Vitor Belfort fights winner of 'Weidman vs. Machida' if 'Phenom' can get licensed

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Vitor Belfort fights winner of 'Weidman vs. Machida' if 'Phenom' can get licensed

Vitor Belfort still has his middleweight title shot, but must first get the rubber stamp from the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) before he can cash it in.

That's according to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White, who declared during a recent ESPN Fan Chat that "The Phenom" hasn't lost his spot in the 185-pound pecking order after he was forced to withdraw from his title fight against UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman.

A championship fight that was set to go down at UFC 173 on May 24, 2014 in "Sin City."

"Vitor," said White, when asked who gets next crack at the 185-pound belt. "After he gets his business cleared up with Nevada."

The "business" Vitor has to get cleared up is his testosterone levels, which now have to register at normal numbers seeing as how testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is no longer allowed in the state of Nevada, or Brazil, for that matter.

Hence the reason "Belfort vs. Weidman" was scrapped.

Despite reports that Vitor only had 90 days to rid himself of any extra testosterone, this member of the MMA media suggests the Brazilian bomber has yet to start the process of getting his license to fight. And those results of that impromptu drug test Belfort went through last February, are still being kept under tight wraps.

For now.

Nevertheless, "The Phenom" is still guaranteed to get the winner of UFC 175's title fight between division champion Chris Weidman and new No. 1 contender Lyoto Machida, a headliner which now takes place on July 5, 2014, in Las Vegas. But first, he needs to handle his business with the NSAC.

What happens to the results of the "sealed" Vitor drug test that he took during his attempt to get licensed for the Weidman fight? I remember hearing that if he were to reapply for a license, those results would become public knowledge and I didn't think it was exclusive to Nevada.....

"He's gotta solve his problems with the Nevada State Athletic Commission and when he does that, we'll figure it out.

"He's got a lot of work to do. That shit just doesn't happen like that. You gotta get on the agenda. He's got a lot of work to do. He's fooling himself if that's what he really thinks, he took a couple of home tests and he's ready to roll. Or whatever he did."

White didn't say much more, but with a noticeable touch of sarcasm said dealing with Belfort and his issues is something he enjoys.

Asked if much of that negative press has been self-imposed by withholding the results from the February drug test in Nevada, White insists Belfort isn't purposefully being secretive.

"He's not," said White. "When he showed up in Nevada the thing that was bad about that is he showed up and [the NSAC was] like, 'You're on testosterone?' 'Yea, I'm on testosterone. Everybody know that.' 'You shouldn't have come to Nevada until you were off it.' I'm so glad TRT is gone. So much better for the sport."

As for the results of the surprise drug screening Belfort was asked to take by the NSAC while appearing at the 2013 World MMA Awards, White says they're immaterial.

"It's absolutely irrelevant because I'm telling you right now we tested the s**t out of [Belfort] before every fight he fought," said White. "I don't remember at what point it was but I said, 'Believe me, we're going to put him through the wringer with the TRT thing' and we did. He complied to everything he was asked to do. He was tested. He was always within his limits. Vitor Belfort was never cheating."

"The thing is with Vitor Belfort is he was never over his [testosterone] limits when he fought. Here's the thing, lets say he came into Nevada and his levels were off the charts. He wasn't fighting. Came [to Nevada] to talk about getting licensed and the thing was, 'Welcome to Nevada. You want to be licensed here? You have to stop taking TRT.' As a guy who's not fighting, you can go around do whatever the hell you want with TRT, right?"

aka we know he was jacking up bigtime, we were ok with it, hence why he fought Brazil plenty times to ensure he would pass the drug test pre/post fight when it came to fighting in the US but we didn't expect the random test and it happened at a point when he had more testosterone in his body than the entire population of Nevada

Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.

It's not like if Vitor's not on TRT he can't be on anything else, at which point we're bound to see Vitor in main event shape. I'm starting to wonder, given how obviously hinky his last undisclosed test and the pullout from the Weidman fight due to the TRT ban, if ZUFFA isn't sticking by Vitor because they're pretty sure Weidman can beat him and that'd be a helluva fight to build their new MW hood ornament.

It's not like if Vitor's not on TRT he can't be on anything else, at which point we're bound to see Vitor in main event shape. I'm starting to wonder, given how obviously hinky his last undisclosed test and the pullout from the Weidman fight due to the TRT ban, if ZUFFA isn't sticking by Vitor because they're pretty sure Weidman can beat him and that'd be a helluva fight to build their new MW hood ornament.

Its a gamble tho.

Could you imagine Vitor blitzing right through Weidman and pissing hot right after as well?